ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) - New Yorkers may soon learn if they’ll get a break on college tuition or be able to hail an Uber upstate.
Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo and state legislative leaders retreated behind closed doors Wednesday to hammer out a state budget agreement ahead of a deadline Saturday.
Top lawmakers say they’ve worked out broad agreements on billions of dollars for the state’s aging water systems. Talks about allowing Uber, Lyft and other ride-hailing services to expand into Buffalo, Rochester and other upstate cities are progressing.
College assistance remains a focus of the discussions. Cuomo wants to make state college tuition free for middle class students; lawmakers have alternatives that include greater assistance for private college.
Another question mark involves a proposal to end the state’s practice of prosecuting 16- and 17-year-olds as adults.
The $150-billion-plus spending plan also is likely to include increases in public education spending, no significant changes in taxes and, possibly, Cuomo’s call to expand a child care tax credit.
The complicated nature of the political horse trading, and how seemingly unrelated issues are wedded together, prompted somewhat cryptic musings from legislators.
“What ends up happening in the end, that’s what happens when the cake is baked,” Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie, D-Bronx, told reporters after emerging from a meeting with Cuomo and Republican Senate Leader John Flanagan.
Or, as Republican Sen. Patrick Gallivan said, “until everything is done, nothing is done.”
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